Brighouse fundraiser named UK Trucker of the Year 2017

A truck driver from Brighouse has been named UK Trucker of the Year 2017 by Trucking magazine.

Imtiaz (Charlie) Karolia, was nominated by his friends and colleagues and received the most votes in the UK.

He said: “I am blown away. I’d like to thank everyone who voted, it very much came out of the blue.

“I’m on cloud nine.”

“I do a bit of charity work and my friends thought it is about time some of the work I do gets recognised.”

In their nominations his friends described him as “ a big-hearted kind soul who is a great ambassador for our industry”.

For two years Imtiaz and three others have been running forum site truckmateuk. The group has around 4,500 members and have raised a significant amount of money for different charities.

Imtiaz said: “Our first event was for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, the we raised £7000 for Forget Me Not Trust and through a fundraising pulling trucks we raised £5000 for Great Ormond Street Hospital.”

Fundraising has already started for the group’s latest chosen charity, the British Heart Foundation.